flea market find - Philco TV

[cchaven]

Today at a flea market I found a nice Philco Seventeener III portable TV from 1958/59.  It's in pretty nice shape cosmetically and has all of its tubes..something like 13 in all..but it's not known yet what kind of shape the picture tube is in and such. Undoubtably it's going to need at least a cap job.  I paid $30 for it.  It's the two tone cream/gold colored version.  It's my first vintage TV..though I've always wanted to pick up an early set.

Jeff

[bingster]

I've always thought that was a nice looking set.  Nice find.

[Adam]

Unfortunately, unlike our vintage telephones, which for the most part except for magneto sets can still be used on the PSTN, vintage televisions are now "one removed" from the world.  Because of the recent switch to digital TV, they can no longer receive "off the air" broadcasts as they were meant to.

Do you have a nice VCR that you can hook your TV up to, to simulate reception?  They may soon be going the way of the dodo bird as well...

I was very sad about the forced switch to digital TV and lamented about it on my personal blog:

http://www.davidhaber.com/blog/related-analog-tv.html

[Dan/Panther]

Over the air broadcasting is on the it's out. I play several old vintage tube t.v.'s and they play perfect connected to my cable or satellite service. If not you can always buy an RF converter for about $20.00 and watch old DVD shows, like most vintage collectors do anyhow. That particular set is referred to as the suitcase model. The picture tube may be good yet. A rebuilt tube is about $250.00, a recap costs about $25.00. If you do the work yourself. Hawkeye recently went out of business after many years rebuilding CRT's, now one of the TV museums have bought all of the equipment with the hopes of offering rebuild service for COST only. Which should cut the price in half.

D/P

[AE_Collector]

Do you have a nice VCR that you can hook your TV up to, to simulate reception?  They may soon be going the way of the dodo bird as well...

I have an RCA VFT650 that needs a home if anyone wants it.....FREE. It works too! Bought it brand new in 1981 for $1500. First on my block to have a VCR!

Here's one listed on ebaY (not mine) but not surprisingly it has the same problems as mine. Cover panel broken off of the front and missing, panel broken off of top over tuning presets (mine is broken off but NOT missing) and no sign of the remote.

I have had it in the gargae for a couple of years now hoping to find a collector who would give it a good home.

http://cgi.ebay.ph/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130440296149

Terry

[paul-f]

I've had good luck using DTV converters with analog TVs.  We're lucky enough to get about 25 channels over the air with a rooftop antenna.

[Dan/Panther]

Jeff;
here is the website that has plans to offer CRT rebuilds in the near future.
D/P

radiomuseum.org

[cchaven]

Thanks for the encouragement.  Even inside it's a clean set and other than some of the gold paint around the trim and the control knobs being worn, it appears to be in really nice shape.  I hope to get it functioning..and I know of a guy locally that has done plenty of work on all makes of tvs for decades, including having a couple of Predicta's on display in his shop the last time I was in it.  I've had good luck in the past with the DTV converter boxes on very old sets, but I'd likely go the route of connecting a dvd or vcr to this one and only it occasionally.

Jeff

[Adam]

I'd likely go the route of connecting a dvd or vcr to this one and only it occasionally.

It would have to be a VCR.  I believe DVD players don't generally have RF out, they only have video out.  You need something with an RF (radio frequency "television" signal) output.

If you really want to use a DVD player, you'd have to get an RF Modulator box.  I see there's tons of them on eBay for relatively cheap.

[deedubya3800]

The man that sold me my 5302 was also selling RF modulators. Those were $10 as well, and he also threw in the RCA cables for that. He wasn't sure how they worked, but I was sharp enough to show him that they had to be receiving a signal to power up; otherwise they stayed on standby. That little tip right there is probably what got me the RCA cables at the four-prong adaptor for my 5302.

I also have a UHF video sender that I bought from someone on eBay who is located in, of all places, Tulsa, Oklahoma! (A few of you may get the relevance of the connection there.) It works really well for sending the signal from our DVD player or satellite box to other TVs in the house over the air on any channel from 14 to 31.

Analog TVs are still very useful. That's all we have in our house, and we're doing all right for the time being, but we do have a converter box (which I almost never use) and a Dish Network receiver.

[carl]

A great looking tv.I like the old ones better.My wife says I don't even need a color set,since I mainly
watch the old black and white movies.Incidentally,when the signal switch went through,I simply used
my 25 year old UHF antenna again,connecting the convertor box to it and the 20 year old Zenith,
along with TWO other tvs plays perfectly.Oh,and here's an oldtimer that I like..and my wife doesn't.Best,Carl NYC

[Dan/Panther]

This is a photo of my 1951 Philco I rebuilt at a cost of about $35.00. I use it to watch old Black and White videos.
D/P

[Just4Phones]

A great looking tv.I like the old ones better.My wife says I don't even need a color set,since I mainly
watch the old black and white movies.Incidentally,when the signal switch went through,I simply used
my 25 year old UHF antenna again,connecting the convertor box to it and the 20 year old Zenith,
along with TWO other tvs plays perfectly.Oh,and here's an oldtimer that I like..and my wife doesn't.Best,Carl NYC

Hi Carl,  I live in NYC too and I would love to get a vintage TV but have no idea where I can get one.  Shipping is obviously cost prohibitive.  Where do you find them if you don't mind giving up your sources?

Joel

[carl]

Joel,hi.I'm actually in Queens,and go to long island frequently,checking for those sales that say
Entire contents of House for sale.I've found several oldtimers at these sites..tvs,phones,radios,etc.
The church sales also have some older tvs,as do the yard sales,which is where I found the Admiral,
which was literally in the yard,and the owner was overjoyed to sell it to me at a bargain price,so
they're around.Good luck..Carl

[carl]

Dan..a great shot of the Philco tv which I remember quite well,as we had one like that when I was
young...er younger.Best,Carl